Innovations in Commissure Attachment for Prosthetic Heart Valves

Manufacturing prosthetic heart valve that reduces the strain placed on the valve assembly without affecting the prosthetic heart valve's ability to collapse. The valve includes a commissure attachment feature that extends in a medial direction of a stent for coupling a valve assembly to the stent.

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A prosthetic heart valve holder and packaging that facilitates implantation of the valve by pre-constricting and/or pre-shielding the valve commissure posts to prevent suture looping. The holder has flexible legs that can extend through the valve and cover the commissure post tips. This allows the holder to shield the posts during implantation without sutures. The legs can retract inward to remove the holder after implant.

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Prosthetic valves that can be delivered through a catheter and implanted over native valves to replace them. The prosthetic valve has a heat-shrink sleeve over the commissural support members to reduce wear on the leaflets and improve durability. The heat-shrink sleeves are shrunk tightly over the support members before attaching the leaflets. This prevents contact between the leaflets and frame during opening, reducing wear. The heat-shrink sleeves can be made from a polymer like polyvinyl chloride.

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Implanting a prosthetic heart valve in a patient's body using an open configuration. The implant includes a metal frame, two or more polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or natural tissue (e.g., pericardial tissue) skirts, and an implantable prosthetic heart valve coupled to the frame via commissure tab assemblies.

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Prosthetic heart valve with adjustable commissure supports that allow the valve to be expanded to a wide range of diameters while maintaining proper leaflet coaptation. The commissure supports have adjustable arms that can be rotated or twisted to adjust the tension on the attached leaflets. This allows customizing the valve diameter for each patient by adjusting the commissure support arms to match the expansion diameter of the valve frame. A delivery assembly allows in-situ adjustment of the commissure supports after valve implantation.

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Prosthetic heart valve leaflet assembly with asymmetrical leaflets and commissure assembly configurations to improve durability and reduce wear compared to conventional symmetrical leaflet designs. The leaflets have tabs with vertical extensions that fold over adjacent leaflet tabs to form commissures.

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Collapsible prosthetic heart valve that can be repositioned during a deployment procedure to reduce its circumferential size. The valve includes a collapsible and expandable stent having a proximal end, a distal end, an annulus section adjacent the proximal end and an aortic section adjacent the distal end.

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Valve holder assembly for minimally invasive heart valve replacement surgeries that reduces suture looping and improves deployment consistency while also minimizing force required to remove the holder after implantation. The holder has a rotating mechanism to bend the commissure posts before implantation, with hard stops to prevent over-bending. The suture routing around the commissure posts is improved to reduce contact with the valve leaflets and force needed to remove the holder. The holder also has features like recessed suture guides and a ledge to hide the routing.

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Prosthetic heart valve with restraining posts that prevent unwanted rotation or movement of the leaflet commissure assembly during crimping and expansion of the valve. The posts have protrusions that engage the commissure tabs to limit axial motion. The commissure tabs wrap around the posts in opposing directions. This provides a secure and self-aligning attachment of the leaflets to the frame, reducing the risk of detachment or misalignment during deployment.

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Collapsible prosthetic heart valve that can be repositioned during deployment to improve implantation and reduce leakage. The valve has a stent with commissure features that have eyelets for distributing leaflet load. The leaflets attach to these eyelets. This allows the leaflets to move relative to the commissures when the valve is collapsed and deployed, allowing better adaptation to irregular native valve shapes. The eyelets also disperse load to prevent tearing.

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A prosthetic heart valve design that improves durability of the leaflet attachment points, particularly at the commissures, by using a unique stent configuration. The stent has a commissure attachment feature with an opening surrounded by a frame. The skirt is connected to the frame at the commissure feature. The leaflets are attached both through the opening and outside of it. This provides redundant leaflet fixation at the commissures, reducing stress concentration and improving durability compared to traditional stent designs where the skirt attaches directly to the stent at the commissures.

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Prosthetic heart valve having increased effective flow area for a given valve size, with wireform and flexible leaflet structure modifications. The valve has an undulating wireform/stent covered in cloth with cusps and commissures. Flexible leaflets attach between the cusps and around the commissures. To increase orifice area, the leaflets extend over the cusps and/or commissures of the wireform. This allows larger leaflet coaptation area compared to traditional heart valves, increasing effective flow area for a given valve size.

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Prosthetic heart valve with modified structure to reduce pressure drop across the valve. The valve has a support frame with undulating inflow cusps and outflow commissure posts that angle outward to widen the outflow orifice. The flexible leaflets attach to the cusps and coapt in the middle. When the valve opens, the leaflets spread outward to provide an outflow orifice area at least as large as the maximum flow orifice area. This prevents flow restriction. The angled commissures provide a larger exit orifice than entrance orifice to induce laminar flow and reduce pressure drop.

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Holder to facilitate implantation of mitral prosthetic heart valves. The holder attaches to the inflow end of the valve and includes a mechanism to flex the commissure posts inward to prevent suture looping during deployment. It also has a handle that angles outward for better visualization and manipulation. The holder can tension sutures connected to the valve to constrict the commissures.

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Prosthetic heart valve with reduced pressure gradient and regurgitation for improved hemodynamics compared to conventional bioprosthetic valves. The valve has a unique support frame with angled commissure posts that widens the outflow orifice area when open. The flexible leaflets expand without creating shelves. The leaflets attach with conforming cusps and coapt to prevent regurgitation. The frame and leaflet shapes minimize pressure drop and regurgitation.

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Collapsible, expandable tissue-based replacement heart valves that can be delivered percutaneously and implanted in the mitral valve without open surgery. The valves have a unique crescent shape with an atrial portion to prevent leakage and a ventricular portion to displace diseased leaflets. They also have fixation members that lock into the mitral annulus. The valves can be crimped and delivered through catheters, then expanded in place. The atrial portion conforms to the annulus, and the fixation members secure the valve. The valves have flexible prosthetic leaflets that coapt with the native leaflets. The design aims to prevent dislodgement, paravalvular leakage, and further mitral annulus dilation.

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Heart valve replacement system for treating mitral valve regurgitation that allows secure implantation and prevention of further annular dilation. The system has a crimpable prosthetic mitral valve with an upper flared portion and a lower vertical portion. Tethers connect anchors embedded in the annulus to the flared portion. Locking devices on the tethers clamp the flared portion against the anchors to fix the valve. This prevents dislodgement and leakage while also reducing annular dilation.

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A prosthetic heart valve design that can be delivered percutaneously and expanded inside the native valve without oversizing the delivery catheter. The valve has a compressed state for delivery and an expanded state for implantation. Compression reduces the valve diameter and length, pulling the support frame and flanges inward. This allows the valve to pass through the native valve in the compressed state. Expanding the valve increases diameter and reduces length, pushing the support frame and flanges outward. This secures the valve against the native valve tissue.

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Prosthetic heart valve with improved durability and performance compared to existing valves. The valve has a unique design for the valve component and frame that addresses issues like premature wear, leaflet overlap, and complexity. The valve component has a folded annular sleeve with cinched commissures anchored inside the frame. The frame has a tubular body with posts and lattice structure. The valve component design allows collapsible leaflets without penetrations and optimal sealing. The frame provides structural support for the commissures. The folded sleeve minimizes overlap during closure. The lattice frame has integral posts without seams.

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A minimally invasive heart valve replacement prosthesis that can be delivered percutaneously through small incisions without open heart surgery. The prosthesis has a self-expanding frame that supports a valve body with three leaflets. The leaflets are sewn together at enlarged lateral end regions to form commissural joints, reducing contact area at coaptation edges. The commissure points are attached to the frame cells to prevent interference during delivery. The frame shape mimics the native valve for better function and alignment.

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